Graduation for All Act of 2009 Introduced To Improve Graduation Rates Of Under-Served Youth
Chairman Miller and House Education Leaders
Introduce the Graduation for All Act of 2009
WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman George Miller (CA-07), along with Representatives Bobby Scott (VA-3), Dale Kildee (MI-05), Chaka Fattah (PA-02), Danny Davis (IL-07), Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15), Raul Grijalva (AZ-07) and David Loebsack (IA-02) introduced the Graduation for All Act of 2009 (GFA). This legislation creates a three year renewable competitive grant to turn around our nation’s lowest performing middle and high schools, and it includes provisions taken from Rep. Scott’s Every Student Counts Act (ESCA, H.R. 1569). The provisions from ESCA will require high schools to set ambitious graduation rate goals, and they provide a strong incentive for high schools to dramatically increase their graduation rates. Additionally, GFA also includes a graduation rate calculation taken from ESCA that accurately counts students who drop out of high school.
“This legislation will make a strong investment in education, intervention services and resources that are critical to addressing the dropout crisis and turning low performing schools into high achieving schools,” said Rep. Scott. “I am particularly pleased that in order to renew their grant, schools will be required to demonstrate decreased discipline referrals and significantly increased attendance, proficiency, and graduation rates by the end of the initial grant period.”
“Congressman Scott and I know that we can’t continue to fail our students, our communities and our nation by allowing this dropout crisis to persist,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. “This bill takes a comprehensive approach to end this epidemic to ensure every student in this country graduates high school prepared to succeed in college and in life.”
GFA provides targeted support for schools with low graduation rates and high dropout rates. Schools will be able to use funds for proven intervention strategies and programs that increase graduation rates. It also funds initiatives that raise the percentage of students attending and completing college from low-income and underrepresented communities such as dual enrollment programs or early college high schools.
The legislation ensures low-income and minority students and students with disabilities are not taught at disproportionate levels by inexperienced, unqualified and out-of-field teachers. It also ensures that students will be engaged in their education and inspired to achieve academic excellence, and it promotes increased engagement of parents and the community.
For more information on the Graduation for All Act of 2009, please click here.
# # #
